Nalla Sopara
Nallasopara (Marathi: नाला सोपारा) is a town within the Mumbai Conurbation. The town lies in Thane district of Maharashtra state in India. The population of the city is 184,664 (2001 census). Its railway station is on the Western Railway Zone, approximately 50 Kms. from from Mumbai Central station. It is governed by the VVMC Vasai-Virar Municipal Corporation. History SHURPARAKA.......SHUR (BRAVE) AND PARAKA (CITY) now called as sopara or nalasopara,In ancient times, it was the largest township on India's west coast and near to Sopara which was one of the chief ports of ancient India trading with Mesopotamia, Egypt, Cochin, Arabia, Greek, Rome and Eastern Africa. Proof of Ashokan inscriptions have also been recovered from Sopara, Buddhist text gives details that it was a prominent Buddhist area. During excavation ruins of a Buddhist Stupa were found. From the center of the stupa (inside a brick built chamber) a large stone coffer was excavated which contained eight bronze images of Maitreya Buddha which belong to the 8th-9th century A.D. The coffer contained a relic caskets, numerous gold flowers and fragments of a begging bowl. A silver coin of Gautamiputra Satakarni was also found from the mound. There were 14 major ashokan edicts, the fact that two of them were found at sopara indicates that it was an important centre of Buddhist activity. the edicts can be found at the prince of wales museum in the ancient history section. the fragment of the ninth rock edict is a massive octagonal block of stone covered with mauryan brahmi writing, roughly the size of a large television screen. in many ways, the rock edict was the b.c. version of TV and mass media. if shah rukh khan plastered Mumbai with hoardings of his film at every strategic street junction, emperor ashoka ensured that rock hoardings propagating his dhamma were installed at strategic points in his empire, including a bilingual Greek and aramic edict at kandahar. and although mr khan's telegenic empire surpasses the emperor's material one, his stones of empire have survived the vagaries of history's tumultuous box-office. Sopara, situated in the thane district of bombay, was the site of an ancient sea port and town. given the heavy human traffic of a port town, what better place to position one's message. According to historian sadashiv gorakshkar, "as a sequel to the third buddhist council in the eighteenth year of ashoka's reign in 256 b.c, it was decided to depute several theras (Senior Monks) as messengers to various parts of the country. one of the areas so covered was aparanta where yona (yavana) dharmaraksita was sent to propagate the law. in spite of the various interpretations of aparanta, it is now accepted that the entire region of thekonkan, i.e. the area between the sahyadri and the sea was included in aparanta, and suparaka or sopara was an important tirtha in aparanta." maybe today's nalla sopara won't find its way to the columns of page three, but it has an eternal place in Ptolemy's periphus maris erythraci and in ancient Hindu, jain and buddhist literature. The purnavandana contains a legend about Gautama's visit to sopara at the instance of the merchant purna. also, ashoka deliberately chose to send a yona dharmarakshita (Greek messenger) to sopara because of its international milieu and the presence of alexandrian Greeks, romans, parthians and Arabs. it was around sopara that a major centre of Buddhist activity, in all probability a university centre, flourished at kanheri almost until the advent of the Portuguese in the 15th century. Sopara slipped into historical obscurity until that historic Easter of 1882. in that landmark April, pandit indraji excavated the mound in sopara, locally called buruda rajacha killa or 'fort of the basket-making king'. he opened the centre of the stupa and 13 feet below discovered a stone coffer. this coffer (on display at the Asiatic society) had in the centre a copper casket containing, one within the other like Russian dolls, four other caskets of silver, stone, crystal and gold. the gold casket contained gold flowers and 13 bits of earthenware, which scholars feel could be shards from buddha's begging bowl. around the copper casket, keeping ancient watch were eight metal images of buddhas. although scholars place the date of the images and the casket between the 2nd and 8th century ad, the rock edicts are hard proof of the ashokan connection. the structure of the stupa is also traced to the ashokan era. The author of Jesus's Godama Sources claims that there is excellent proof to associate the name and location of the Biblical Ophir with the name and location of Sopara. Demographics As of 2001 India census, Nalla Sopara had a population of 1,84,664 and it is one of the well known suburb in Mumbai. Males constitute 54% of the population and females 46%. Nallasopara has an average literacy rate of 79%, higher than the national average of 74.04%: male literacy is 77%, and female literacy is 82%. In Nalla Sopara, 13% of the population is under 6 years of age. This place has witnessed very steep rise of population since 1998, due to cheapest property rates in Mumbai suburban railways area, steep rise of property rates in Mumbai and being well connected to Mumbai city by local train services. in nall sopara 13% of the populacation is under 6 years of age. this place has witnessed steady property growth. As per the new records it will be one of the best place in Western suburb. Localities Sopara village or gaon the original nallasopara before urbanisation consisted of the nawayat mohalla,shakar mohalla,waza mohalla,bhandarali,loharali,chawdinaka,samelpada,and the bazar peth also called burhan chowk now after urbanisation Nallasopara like all western suburbs of Mumbai is divided into West and East. The Western part of Nallasopara is better of developed and has better connectivity compared to the eastern side as it is planned unlike its counterpart. The prominent areas of both are listed below. Radha Nagar is One Of Most Famous Road Or Area Because Of Its Developmaent. Nallasopara West:- Patankar Park, Sri Prastha Complex, Laxmiben Chheda Nagar, Chanakya Nagar, Samel Pada, Sopara Gaon, Nilemore, Nallasopara-Virar Link Road Area.chkradhar nagar,idbi colony,ami park Nallasopara East:- Radha Nagar, Achole Road, Tulinj Road, Central Park,Vijay Nagar, Achole Gaon, Vasai-Nallasopara Link Road Area (RASHMI DHRUVITA PARK),Kargil Nagar Nallasopara East Station Road To Highway (NH8):- Tulinj Road, Toll Naka, Santosh Bhuvan,(sitaram nagar)Gorai Pada, Pandey Nagar, Bilal Pada babalu mama 'office, Shri Ram Nagar, Dhaniv Baag, Dhaniv Baag Talao, Wakan Pada, Vasai-Nallasopara Highway Area Hospitals 'Hospitals:-' Nallasopara West *Sushrut Hospital (Dr Rohit and Dr Varsha Dandawate) Surgical Hospital ISO CERTIFIED *Sane Nursing Home ( Dr Bhuraj Sane) ICU And General Hospital *Dr Tate Hospital ( Dr Rajesh and Dr Raksha Tate) Gynaec and Paediatric Hospital *Riddhi Vinayak Multispeciality Hospital Nallasopara East *Ashirwad Nursing Home (Dr Ravindra and Dr Jayashree Deshpande) General and Paediatric Hospital ISO CERTIFIED *Lakshmi Narayan Hospital ( DR Ashish Shukla) General, Nursing home Paediatric Hospital Schools and Colleges 'Schools:-' *Divine providence English high School(D.P.H.S) *Infant Jesus High School.(I.J.H.S) *Z.B.Zakaria English School. *Chandresh Lodha Memorial High School(CLMS) *Holy Cross High School, Nirmal. *Sopara English School. *Little Flower's English High School. *Nutan Vidyalaya & Jr. College ,Nallasopara (East) *The Anjuman Islam High School. *Rahul International School. *Sacred heart high school. *U.S. Academy High School. *St.Gonsalo Garcia High School,Gass. *Holy Cross Convent School,Nanbhat. *Kristraj High School (2nd branch of 'I.J.H.S.') *Evergreen high school. *St. Francis De Sales School.Nallasopara (East) *St. Anthony's High School. *St. Aloysius High School. *Kapol Junior college of Arts, Science and Commerce. *Krishna More Patil Deshmukh Patil Vidyalaya Marathi & English Medium (KMPD) *Holy Cross Angel School. *Mother Mary's High School. *St. Mary's High School. *St. Aloysius Junior College *Adarsh Education Scociety Junior College *St. Stanislaus Junior College *Shishu Bharti Vidhyamandir (Near KMPD School) *Divine Life High School (Behind IJHS) *Mata Bhagwati Yug Nirman Vidyalay (Dhaniv Baug) *Lokmanya Hindi high school nallasopara east *Sarswati Vidhya Mandir School Nallasopara (E) *Thakur Vidya Mandir High School, Nallasopara (E) *Abhimala Nanjyoti Gyaan Peeth *Yash Kirti High School, Nallasopara (W) Category:Suburbs